Previewing ‘The Leopard From Lime Street Volume 3: Rise Of The Snow Beast!’

by Richard Bruton

The Treasury Of British Comics brings us more classic reprints of Britain’s #1 superhero from the ’70s, The Leopard From Lime Street!

The reprints of classic British comics continue into 2023 from the Treasury of British Comics with this third volume chronicling the life and times of one young Billy Farmer (aka The Leopardman).

It’s a particularly wonderful take on Spider-Man, but with very British sensibilities. There’s no swinging across the landscapes of the Big Apple or other such extravagant moments for Billy. Instead, he has to contend with protecting his little British town of Selbridge from whatever evil there is in the world.

In this latest volume, all pulled from the pages of Buster and given the usual incredible restoration job by the Treasury, Billy finds himself up against the Snow Beast, who’s busied himself with a crime blitz through the depths of a British winter. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the appearance of a second Leopardman to really turn Billy’s life upside down and sully his reputation with dastardly acts of chaos. (Yes, dastardly!)

But before those, the volume opens with young Billy juggling school and home life, keeping the Leopardman away from the police, and doing everything he can to keep Selbridge safe.

First, he uncovers the mystery of his new headmaster – who isn’t at all who he says he is. Then, having foiled that dastardly plot, it’s time to face up to a group of biker thugs intent on ruining Billy and his pals’ game of cricket, who then manage to put two and two together and figure out that Billy Farmer is Leopardman!

There’s also a little time in the middle of all this for it all to get particularly ridiculous, as Billy manages to mess up the local music festival after falling foul of the headliners – the Jaguars – resulting in him having to promise that the Leopardman will make an appearance…

‘It’s weird, man, Weird!. Like… out of this world!’

Well, it was the late ’70s and that’s about as close as Tully might have been able to get to youth culture at the time.

Okay, sure, it’s all a bit silly there – but it’s to be expected as although the Leopard might have been written and published in the late ’70s, the whole tone of the strip is pure ’60s, very much harking back to a simpler time of post-war Britain rebuilding after WWII. But just because it’s a strange time capsule of a thing, even as it was published and most definitely now, that doesn’t make it any less fascinating as a way to see the history of post-war Britain as well as a rather thrilling bit of off-the-wall superhero silliness.

It’s got absolutely everything in here – all the classic superhero moments you want, all with that British spin. So whether it’s the superhero’s identity being discovered, the obsessive cop with a mission to capture the dangerous vigilante, “the beast of Selbridge”, the press out to get him, looking after his lovely Aunty Joan, or just having to hide his incredible talents from others at school – The Leopard really is that classic spin on the likes of Spider-Man, all filtered through a British 1970s lens.

Obviously, the thrills come thick and fast with the Leopard From Lime Street, Tully writing each short 3-page episode as densely as possible to get the most into it and, of course, it benefits from having art by Bradbury and Western, two incredible artists adding their beautiful art to the pages. There’s actually a third, and possibly a fourth, artist listed in the book, responsible for the first 12 pages and 9 pages much later on. Sadly, despite the Treasury’s researchers doing all they can to identify and credit those involved from days where lowly comic artists were never credited on the pages of Brit comics, there are just some that will forever be lost to the mists of time.

The Leopard From Lime Street Volume 3 – Rise of the Snow Beast!

Written by Tom Tully, art by Mike Western and Eric Bradbury, Unknown artist(s) on pages 04-15 and 121-129. Originally published in Buster July 1978 – September 1979

Volume 2 published on 16th March 2023 by The Treasury of British Comics

Now, a little preview selection… first, here’s the opener by the unknown artist…